by Max Andren
I saw her shake her head.
Stubborn. Good, I thought with pride.
I saw the apprentice gearing up to let fly another arrow, so I changed my direction. Instead of avoiding Hulbetto, I went straight for him. He saw me coming and readied his sword to strike out at me.
I had my ears attuned to the twang of the bowstring releasing and prayed my shift to shadow would be immediate and it was. The arrow that should have found its home between my shoulder blades, was buried in Hulbetto’s right shoulder instead.
His yell of pain was music to my ears.
Dropping into human-form, I reached for Hanley’s reaping knife that was secured around my leg where I kept it handy. Weakness added weight to my movements, but I moved as quick as possible to strike Hulbetto with a killing blow.
He was momentarily preoccupied with pulling the arrow out of his shoulder and that’s when I struck. I grabbed at the amulet around his neck and yanked with all my dragon strength. I used that momentum to pull him into my slashing knife and ran it across his exposed throat.
Blood sprayed out and I jumped back as he dropped to the dirt floor below me.
18
I was breathing heavy with exertion. Shifting back and forth had drained more energy, but had healed the sword injuries Hulbetto had scored. I turned to see where the apprentice was and couldn’t find him.
The little girl ran to me and wrapped her arms around my hips. I picked her up and walked away from Hulbetto.
The apprentice ran past me and I turned to protect the girl, but he wasn’t interested in me. He hustled towards his master to offer aid I thought, but he grabbed the Sword of Dramascus instead. He looked over his left shoulder at me and then took off running with the sword cradled in his arms. He didn’t even glance at his master as he left.
Damn it, I wanted that sword! I’m sorry, Aiden, I thought to myself, but I couldn’t leave the little girl to pursue the apprentice. Besides, I was too weak at the moment.
I gathered the little girl into my arms and walked to the opposite side of where Hulbetto was laying. I wanted to keep going and walk right on out the door, but I couldn’t leave straightaway.
I had to destroy the amulet and release the dragons trapped within. They were the source of the voices that had haunted me since I was eight years old. My dragon brethren that had been reaped of their essence and trapped in hell.
I had a dream or perhaps a vision that showed me how to release the dragons from their continued torment. I would follow that premonition and accept whatever conclusion resulted from it.
I walked straight for the sacrificial rock near the center of the room. Wanting to protect the little girl in my arms, I stayed on the opposite end of the cairn from where her mother was still laid out. Her blood hardly visible after soaking into the dirt below the cairn.
The sacrificial rock had bore witness to the death and destruction, as well as the reaping of hundreds, upon thousands of dragons and our brethren over the centuries. Let it also bear witness to the release and renascence of the remaining dragons imprisoned within the amulet. Finally, they’d have the freedom to move on. To where, I had no idea, but they’d be free and at peace.
I felt like time was running out for Mia. She was weakening and I needed to free her now.
Mia was in the amulet too, I realized. She must have suffered tremendously through her reaping to still be there. The energy stolen during the torture deteriorates and degrades over time, losing its potency until it stops feeding the drampire altogether. But instead of being released, the dragons essence remains trapped and in limbo.
Not anymore, I would release them all.
I sat the amulet on the cairn. The chain was still attached and puddled on either side to form a linked barrier. Something about that bothered me, so I pulled the chain from the eye of the amulet and threw it as far as I could.
I wanted nothing to prevent their release.
My hands were shaking, as I pulled out the reaping knife coated with Hulbetto’s blood. Just before I proceeded to follow my vision, the little girl started walking towards her mother.
Oh, God! “Please stay here with me, little one,” I pushed to her mind.
“Dreah,” she answered, then said, “I have to say goodbye.”
With that she walked the short distance to her mother. I was panicking and conflicted. The sands of time were almost gone. I could feel it in my bones that the final grains were about to fall and I would have failed yet again.
I grabbed the amulet and walked with the little…with Dreah. What a beautiful name I thought. When I reached her side she was standing by her mother.
I looked for something—anything, to protect her from how her mother looked with her abdomen slashed wide open and blood dripping over her sides. But it wouldn’t erase the image from her mind or the fact she’d witnessed the whole thing in the first place.
She had to be in shock, numb from all that had transpired, but she needed this moment for closure. I completely understood that. I needed to release the dragons from the amulet to find closure—of this chapter at least. I had a feeling that I had many more chapters to go before all would be said and done, before I would find the peace that my soul craved.
“My father is trapped in there too,” she suddenly said.
“In here?” I asked holding the amulet out to her, using my voice, which I rarely if ever did.
“Yes. That bad man killed him.”
She looked up at me with her solemn amber eyes and I saw a level of understanding that no child of her age should have. My heart broke for the fact she had lost both of her parents to such an evil man and to such a heinous process—all so that one person could extend his life beyond what nature had intended.
“I’m sorry, Dreah.”
She nodded her head, then kissed her mother upon her white cheek. I imagined what Dreah must have felt under the press of her warm lips. The skin would be cool and lack resilience, since the life had long since been stolen from her.
So brave, this little girl, and so much more than I.
She finished with her goodbyes and grabbed my hand to walk back to the other end. She sat out of the way, though close by—instinctively knowing that I needed to start.
I sat the amulet back on the cairn, this time my hands were calm. The amulet was roughly the size of my hand and very heavy. It was made of Damascus and a huge bloodstone that was swirled with the blue of our dragon essence. As I studied the amulet, I could see that the swirls were moving.
My breath caught at the implications. When my hand hovered over the amulet, the swirls increased their movement. I opened myself up to the voices, as I ran my finger across the hard surface of the stone. I could hear every one of them and all at once.
I must free them and right now!
I pulled out the reaping knife again, still coated in Hulbetto’s blood and ran the blade across my palm, adding my own blood to the mix.
I slid the knife into the amulet’s stone—which turned gelatinous as soon as the reaping knife touched the surface and twisted it counterclockwise. Vibrations ran through the knife as I held it still. The voices that had been extremely loud within my mind were completely silent once I slid the knife in.
Not a sound.
The knife in my hand grew too hot to touch and I had to let go when it started to burn my palm.
One person speaking is but a whisper, but a thousand whispers all at once makes for a roar—and that’s when the amulet exploded into a million shards of glass.
19
I could have never prepared for what happened next. To this day, it all seems a bit unreal. It was magical and transformational. I released the dragons from the amulet and from their tortured existence of feeding Hulbetto’s immortality for centuries.
All around the room and everywhere that my eye could see was the blue iridescence of our dragon essence—hundreds, maybe even a thousand or more. Too many to count and to see. I searched for Mia, I wanted to find her and I bet
she wanted to find me too. She had to here somewhere.
I looked over at Dreah, she was searching the room for her parents.
As I looked about the room searching for Mia, each of the swirling essence would transform into their human-form, like stretching and expanding into what they had been before their life had been stolen. So many eras represented by the clothes they chose to wear.
After their shift to human-form, if they were able to, they would shift to dragon. At first to full-sized dragon and then down to a more manageable size to accommodate the size of the room.
Dreah grabbed my hand and we watched in wonder as this collective flew around the immense room and frolicked like children at play—happy to be free and literally spreading their wings.
It was so beautiful to watch. The emotions felt golden and bubbly, like champagne. It was such a happy feeling that I actually laughed out loud and shocked myself. After allowing their dragons free for a bit, they shifted again and back into their basic essence—the core of who they were.
The room glowed with a thousand dragons and thrummed with the contented peace they had found at long last. The luminous collection of souls turned and focused their attention on me and shifted yet again to human-form.
I watched in stunned silence as the entire room knelt before me—right fist pressed to heart. I didn’t deserve their honor and acknowledgment.
“Thank you,” I told them nonetheless, “you’ve been with me for years. I beg for your forgiveness. For years you’ve needed my help, but I didn’t understand.”
They stood as one and moved to the side. I saw that a lone dragon remained unchanged. It had not taken advantage of the freedom to shift. It hovered near the remnants of the shattered amulet.
As I walked forward, the collective shifted back. I could feel their gratitude, acceptance and understanding. They didn’t know what I had been through these past fifteen years and I wouldn’t tell them—ever. They only needed to know that I was here now.
“I don’t know what happens next, now that you’ve been released,” I addressed everyone, but specifically the one before me, “but won’t you take advantage of the ability to shift before you no longer have the chance?” I asked.
I stopped just before reaching her and waited to see what she would decide. She shifted and just like me, she wasn’t very big. Barely a hatchling, but her beautiful coloring was very similar to mine.
She didn’t fly around like I thought she would. Instead she stayed right in front of me and looked me over, as if cataloguing my every feature with her crystalline-blue eyes before she shifted into human-form. Once fully transitioned, she kept her dark head down.
Everyone was attuned to us. I could feel their curiosity, as well as a palpable tension that I didn’t comprehend. On top of that, there was a sense of expectation hanging in the air, as if the collective were holding their breath.
Once she shifted I could see that she was just a little girl, but not the only child in the room to have been reaped for their dragon essence. My heart hurt for their suffering and for what had been stolen from them at such a tender age.
Like the others, she had chosen her own clothes and she wore a tea-length powder blue dress with a white satin sash, white socks and black patent Mary Jane’s.
My breath caught when she looked up to me. Wet lashes framed eyes that shimmered with unshed tears. It was if I were looking into a mirror and seeing the reflection of my eight-year-old self.
20
I dropped to my knees before her. My heart beating rapidly in my chest. I looked her over, just as she had done me. Who was she? Why did she look so much like me? I looked around for help and possibly answers, only to see numerous expressions of empathy and understanding.
But I didn’t understand—not at all.
“You look just like I did as a child,” I said to her and then asked, “Why? Please…won’t you tell me your name?” I begged her, my voice raspy and clogged with an emotion I couldn’t name.
“Names have power, as you know,” she told me, her voice heavy with sorrow.
“I do. My given name had been stripped of its power and so I chose another for myself—one more suitable. One that I could identify with.”
“Yes, you go by Charani now—Phoenix.”
I had to laugh, “Yes, though, like you little one, I’m barely larger than a hatchling,” I said while shaking my head at my inability to shift to a full-sized Phoenix Dragon.
“I’m the reason you cannot shift to your potential,” she quietly confessed.
“I don’t understand how you could possibly be responsible for my own failings.”
“Have you remembered your reaping?” she asked, making my head spin with the change in subject.
“Only recently. When Dr. Hanley took over as the administrator of the asylum, only then, did I remember,” I told her, the anger evident in my voice. At least he was dead now and could no longer kill my dragon brethren.
“He attempted to reap you for your essence when you were eight, but he failed in completing the ritual.”
I nodded, emotions having stolen my voice.
“You named me, Mia…”
I nodded my head. I knew this had to be Mia, but I had more questions than answers now.
“…But, my name is Sarah.”
I looked at her and tried to figure out how that could be possible.
“He never finished the reaping, Charani.”
“No,” I whispered.
“Hanley didn’t finish your reaping, but what he did complete was enough to imprison a portion of your soul within the Amulet of the Dead.”
The answer I had sought the whole of my life was standing before me and waiting.
Me!
“I’m Sarah, as well as you! We can finally be as one soul again, instead of divided.”
“Not if I can help it!” Hulbetto said ominously from behind me.
21
I tried to turn, surprised that he wasn’t dead, but before I could, he shoved his reaping knife deep into my back. Centuries of experience with reaping and killing dragons had allowed him to expertly slip the blade between my ribs and twist it with enough force to inflict maximal damage. He yanked it out with another turn of his wrist.
I coughed as my lung collapsed and blood bubbled up and out of my mouth. I spit a mouthful on the ground at his feet and glared at him while I still had the strength to do so!
I attempted to shift hoping to repair the damage, but couldn’t and that could only mean one thing—the wound was mortal and he knew it.
“Now I will finish the reaping Hanley screwed up all those years ago.”
My vision started to dim and I could feel myself swaying where I’d fallen. The neck wound I’d given Hulbetto was mostly closed due to the healing properties of the soil. I hadn’t thought about that.
So much knowledge to acquire and to learn, but far too late to implement.
I could feel the collective vibrating with fury, but impotent to do anything about it. Hulbetto couldn’t feel them now that they were no longer contained within the amulet fueling his immortality.
Nor could he see them as they swirled around him unnoticed while he prepared to sacrifice me to his greater good! He would reap me of my essence as he carved dark magical glyphs into my flesh and tortured me unto death.
I pushed hard with my mind for Dreah to sneak out. Now! I would protect her from my imminent torture and prevent her from becoming his next sacrifice. She’d been through enough.
I looked from the corner of my eye and saw her parents were urging her to leave. She was shaking her head no—again. I loved that little girl with her massive courage and resilience.
I brought Cipriano into my mind so that he could see Dreah.
“Bring her home, Cipriano. I choose her as my family, so you must care for her in my place. Lord, I would have loved her!”
I couldn’t stand to know another person would be taken from her, even though we had just met—we had
bonded. Cipriano would take care of her and make her family. I knew he would stop at nothing to make it happen.
I allowed him to feel my mortal injury and I felt his pain and remorse through our connection. The burdens he carried were massive and I had just added to them because I was deeply flawed and couldn’t ask for help.
I was running out of time and quickly shared Aiden’s message for Cipriano. I withheld the part where Aiden was used by Hulbetto as the instrument to cause me harm—I’m sure he realized that without having to live though it.
Cipriano’s shock and helplessness resonated through me and almost knocked me the rest of the way over. His mission through the centuries had been to save Aiden and it was that goal, that had pulled him through each day.
Sarah, it felt awkward to call her by my name, as if I were talking about someone else, someone separate—though technically, we were separate and would remain so.
“No, Charani, we won’t. Will you take me back? Will you accept all that you are? All that you could have been? And all that you shall coalesce to be?”
Sarah was a part of me, yet not. She had a profound wisdom that I lacked. An insightfulness that came from years of being imprisoned in the Amulet of the Dead and surrounded by centuries-old dragons and their collective wisdom.
“Yes, Sarah! Come back to me. Let us be as one before I die and we must join the others.”
“I will, but first will you accept the collective, as you like to call them?” She asked.
“I’ve already accepted them. I deeply regret it took me so long to understand what they were trying to tell me all those years.”
“Then prepare, Charani to be Phoenix,” she said prophetically just before the room exploded in a kaleidoscope of light and color.
22
The collective rushed towards me, as did Hulbetto. Both attempting to reach me first. Hulbetto had the weight of his body to retard his movements, but the dragons were in their essential form—fast and fluid, reaching me first.